The trails got a light dusting of rain Saturday night/Sunday morning but barely showed a trace by afternoon. Hey, who’s doing trail work up there? They weenied out one of my favorite step-ups, the lower bridge at Iverson, and are in the process of smoothing out the jumpy final section on Iverson. I’m sure these […]

You won’t see Tiger’s trails like this for a long time. They’re in primo condition, better than they will be two weeks from now. How can I say that so assuredly? Because if it rains, they’ll be wet. If it doesn’t rain, they’ll be on their way to getting pitted out from constant use. There’s […]

The good news is, Tiger Mountain’s primary mountain biking loop is open again. The DNR reopened Northwest Timber Trail earlier than expected (the first time that’s been done in recent years) this past weekend for the duration of the season. The bad news is, Northwest Timber Trail is in serious jeopardy. A huge swath has […]

Over on MTBR.com, Jon Kennedy of Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance has a post updating the group’s efforts to increase access to Tiger Mountain. Jon and I spoke yesterday, and I came away encouraged by EMBA’s efforts to raise awareness and integrate mountain biking interests with trail planning in the region, and especially on Tiger. Jon […]

The Northwest Timber Trail on Tiger Mountain is closed again, this time for logging prep work near the upper trail. The good news is that the damage involves (so far) just one section, a yarding line just above where the trail starts to drop for good, and that a mid-June reopening is “expected.” I put […]

Portland’s great mountain biking club, PUMP (Portland United Mountain Pedalers), has joined the “Alliance” movement among mountain biking organizations, changing its name to Northwest Trail Alliance and following in the footsteps of Seattle-based Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club’s changeover to Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance last year. The idea here is to emphasize mountain biking’s outreach to […]

Tiger Mountain is in great shape for riding this weekend, and the weather is supposed to be astounding. Upper Preston is almost completely dry, although lower Preston continues to be splatter time, with more wet spots than prom night. May 2009 has already nearly doubled the average rainfall for the month and we’ve still got […]

When we think about doing trail work, our first impulse tends to be, “Any time we spend working on a trail could alternatively be spent riding on a trail.” And guess which we’d rather do. But over the years I’ve learned that trail maintenance has its upside. It’s convivial — you get to spend time […]

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